In My Life by the Beatles, was released on the 1965 album, Rubber Soul. It was chiefly written and sung by John Lennon, who claimed it was his first serious attempt at personal song-writing. The song features a baroque style piano solo by George Martin. The tempo was too fast for him to perform it, so he played it at half tempo and layer doubled the tape speed. The resulting tinny sound gave rise to a host of copycat harpsichord solos on contemporary pop songs.

This version of In My Life is arranged in a suitable key and range for solo Viola. Piano/Guitar chords are included above the stave.

Musicians at an early intermediate level will find In My Life ideal for formal and informal concert performance. Most of the solo is straightforward, although the transcribed piano solo is at a higher level of difficulty; these eight bars can be skipped without affecting the overall structure of the song. The overall performance time is around two and a half minutes.

Teachers will enjoy using this arrangement as a fun way to help with syncopated rhythms.

Hans Werner Henze's output is primarily dominated by large-scale, representative musical genres with a richly differentiated instrumental tonal palette: opera and other forms of musical theatre works, ballet, solo concertos and cantatas and also music for large-scale orchestra or chamber ensemble. In contrast, the chamber music works which Henze has composed throughout his entire compositional career right up to the present day have always remained somewhat on the sidelines. Many of these chamber music works had been composed for specific occasions, chiefly to honour figures who had accompanied him on longer or shorter stretches of his journey through life.

Henze composed An Brenton in July 1993 for an event commemorating the Australian violinist Brenton Langbein who had just died. The violinist had been a long-standing leader of the Collegium Musicum Zurich, the orchestra established and conducted by Paul Sacher, and was subsequently also the leader of the Basel Chamber Orchestra [Basler Kammerorchester].He additionally held a violin class at the Music Academy in Basel for a substantial period of his career. Interestingly enough, this piece is not composed for the violinist's instrument, but instead for solo viola. The work was given its first performance on 15 July 1993 by Jurg Dahler, one of the two viola players of the Chamber Musicians of Zurich [KammermusikerZurich]. This ensemble had been formed by Langbein in 1962: it frequently included compositions by Henze in its programmes and had given the premiere of Henze's music for Volker Schlondorffs Film Der junge Torless in its transformation as the Fantasia of the same name for string sextet (1967) in 1968. Langbein was the soloist in the first performance of Henze's Violin Concerto No. 2 in 1972 which had been commissioned by Paul Sacher. Henze had already made acquaintance with Langbein during the 1960s.

German - English.

Garth Knox is one of the most prominent violists of his generation, and as former long-time member of the Arditti Quartet he has developed and maintained a fondness of contemporary music. In the mean time, he gives concerts and teaches courses all over the world.

With 'Viola Spaces' he wants to make contemporary playing techniques accessible to advanced players. The pieces, or 'playing spaces', are true concert studies, each of them dealing with specific techniques such as harmonics, pizzicato (with 9 fingers!) or tremolos which are explained in great detail.

Another volume with modern playing techniques for two violas and a volume with variations on a piece by the French viola da gamba master Marin Marais for four violas are planned.

Volume 3 in the Pure Viola series has 30 classic Christmas carols that both you and your audience are sure to love. This is over 40 minutes of non-stop Christmas carols, specially arranged for solo viola.

These holiday favorites are a special arrangement for solo viola. This is not just another copy of the same old melody lines. Each carol is expanded with double stops to add a rich harmony for solo performance. Many of the carols are entirely in first position, and nothing goes beyond fourth position. Each carol is in its original key, so it is easy to combine these with your own choir or piano/organ parts.

Volume 3 contains the following:
1. Angels from the Realms of Glory
2. Angels We Have Heard on High
3. Auld Lang Syne
4. Away in a Manger (Cradle Song)
5. Away in a Manger (Mueller)
6. Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella
7. Coventry Carol
8. Deck the Halls
9. God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
10. Good Christian Men Rejoice (In Dulci Jubilo)
11. Good King Wenceslas
12. Hark! The Herald Angles Sing
13. Here We Come A-Caroling (Wassail Song)
14. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
15. I Saw Three Ships
16. It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
17. Joy to the World
18. Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
19. O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum)
20. O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
21. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
22. O Holy Night
23. O Little Town of Bethlehem (Forest Green)
24. O Little Town of Bethlehem (St. Louis)
25. Silent Night
26. The First Noel
27. The Holly and the Ivy
28. We Three Kings
29. What Child is This (Greensleeves)
30. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks

Here are 10 great pieces arranged for pure solo viola - no piano required! This collection has more than 40 minutes of classical and patriotic songs ideally suited for formal recitals, wedding celebrations, and background music gigs.

These are not just lame copies of the melody line; they are all fully worked out arrangements designed to be as rich as possible and to highlight the viola. These are direct transcriptions of the original "Pure Cello" series, now available for viola. As a professional cellist, I originally arranged these pieces for my personal use, and I have performed every one of them in public.

These are fairly challenging pieces; I would compare their difficulty to Bach Cello Suite #2 on the easy side and Bruch Cello Concerto on the harder side. But with some practice you will have some amazing additions to your solo repertoire.

Each of the songs in this collection is also available separately, but buying the full volume saves you over 60%.

Volume 1 contains the following:
1. Strauss Blue Danube Waltz
2. Dvorak Goin' Home (Largo from "New World" Symphony #9)
3. Schubert Ave Maria
4. Faure Apres un reve
5. Tchaikovsky Melodie
6. Marais Le Tableau de l'Operation de la Taille (Depiction of a Bladder Stone Operation)
7. Joplin The Entertainer
8. Calistri-Yeh Variations on "My Country 'Tis of Thee"
9. Sousa Stars and Stripes Forever
10. Ward America the Beautiful

If you enjoyed Volume 1, you'll love Volume 2. Here are 10 more great pieces arranged for pure solo viola - no piano required! This collection has more than 30 minutes of classical and patriotic songs ideally suited for formal recitals, wedding celebrations, and background music gigs.

These are not just lame copies of the melody line; they are all fully worked out arrangements designed to be as rich as possible and to highlight the viola. These are direct transcriptions of the original "Pure Cello" series, now available for viola. As a professional cellist, I originally arranged these pieces for my personal use, and I have performed every one of them in public.

These are fairly challenging pieces; I would compare their difficulty to Bach Cello Suite #2 on the easy side and Bruch Cello Concerto on the harder side. But with some practice you will have some amazing additions to your solo repertoire.

Each of the songs in this collection is also available separately, but buying the full volume saves you over 60%.

Volume 2 contains the following:
1. Bach Toccata in D Minor
2. Brahms Hungarian Dance #5
3. Bizet Carmen Medley
4. Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet Introduction & Love Theme
5. Tchaikovsky Symphony #5, Finale (excerpt)
6. Debussy Clair de Lune
7. Sousa Washington Post March
8. Vieuxtemp Variations on "Yankee Doodle"
9. Meacham American Patrol
10. Smith The Star-Spangled Banner

Appalachia Waltz MO155

Appalachia Waltz for unaccompanied viola by Mark O?Connor

Viola Solo

Music by Mark O?Connor

3 pages - 5:00 minutes in length



Appalachia Waltz is a piece composed by Mark O?Connor for unaccompanied violin which gained fame as the title track from the album featuring O?Connor, Yo-Yo Ma, and Edgar Meyer. The Sony Classical release remained for many months in the top ten of Billboard Magazine?s Classical music chart. O?Connor originally composed the piece as a solo for unaccompanied violin in 1993 before he brought it to the trio when compiling material for their album. Here, adapted to viola, ?Appalachia Waltz? is very similar to the violin version O?Connor performs in his solo concerts. With the musical influences coming from Scandinavian and Appalachian folk fiddling, it is one of O?Connor?s most beautiful pieces. The music is suited for advanced and intermediate levels.